Ismira's story
by The Corrupted Typer
Summary: My name is Ismira, I am eighteen years I have lived my life with no goal but to But now, I have discovered a new The goal to discover what happened to my parents on my first birthday, the day everything went


My name is Ismira, I am eighteen years old. I have no parents, as far as I know, and I am on my own. I trust no one, because I've been through too much to even have trust. All my life the only thing I can remember was the need to survive, and the need to find out what happened, what happened on the day of my first birthday when my family all but disappeared.

* * *

A young woman with flaming red hair and sparkling blue eyes walked into a shop in the city of Illiria. She wore a long black cloak, which concealed her clothes from the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper, a middle aged woman with white hair in a tight bun, looked her up and down. She seemed harmless, since she was so young, so she just sat down again and began to read her newspaper again.

Inside the woman was glad that her trick had worked, it always did, but she showed no sign of it on the outside. She only looked around in the dull gray room and walked over to a shelf were a certain necklace lay. She had been studying the shop for many months now, outside and inside, and she knew all of the places the shopkeeper looked at mostly. Little did the old woman at the desk know, the old leather strap necklace with an emerald pendant was actually worth pounds of gold.

And, of course, the woman with the flaming red hair would exploit the woman's lack of knowledge to her advantage. That was the very emerald necklace that belonged to the queen of the elves herself. And of course, the shopkeeper had no idea of its history, and she paid no attention to it. He woman with the flaming hair was pretty sure the shopkeeper didn't even know the pendant was an emerald. It would be easy for the woman to steal the necklace, sell it, and go down the streets with her pockets full of gold.

This was how the woman with flaming hair made her living. Sure, it wasn't a very beneficial living, besides to herself, but she had no parents to give her money. She couldn't even remember her parents, and she had no idea what had happened to them. She guessed that they were criminals, and that she was the mistake, and that they just abandoned her. She grew up in an orphanage in Surda, which had been torn down, and after that all she could remember was the thirst to survive, where her only worries were if she would have a meal that day.

She was now in front of the shelf which had the emerald necklace on it. It wasn't even protected; it was just lazily put there, like a piece of garbage. The woman had learned from a young age how to watch someone without them know of it. She peeked out of the corner of her eye at the shopkeeper to see that she was sitting there reading her newspaper. Every once in a while she would glance up, but it was in the other direction towards a rack of fabulous silk dresses.

The woman with flaming hair thought that it was so hilarious that the shopkeeper would be watching the dresses, and not an antique necklace! Of course, that was how all women were. They preferred their pretty dresses over doing hard work and making money on their own. But the woman with flaming hair was not, though. She didn't care about dresses; in fact, she didn't even care enough to scrub her armor on a daily basis. She usually went around with her armor smelling wretched, but she couldn't care less. It kept the foolish men away, which she couldn't even do with her daggers.

She looked at the necklace in front of her, studying it carefully.

"Emerald, diamond shaped, old leather strap, gold buckle, inscription written in the ancient language." She noted.

It was defiantly the queen's necklace, she had read about it many times over and she had remembered every detail of it from her readings. She spent all the time she could spare in the great library of Illiria, and it had aided her well. She had even stolen a few books from there a few times. Of course, they weren't any of the ancient scrolls that would have landed her in prison, but they had given her a lot of valuable information.

She went through her plan in her head. She would study the necklace, while watching the shopkeeper, and when she was not looking, she would shove it into her coat pocket, and replace it with a replica she had made. It was a cheap replica, it didn't have the inscription or a gold latch, or a real emerald, but she doubted the shopkeeper would notice.

"Excuse me?!" asked a voice from behind her.

She spun around to see the old shopkeeper looking at her skeptically.

"Are you going to buy anything?" asked the woman, obviously irritated.

Despite the woman's tone, the woman with flaming red hair was calm as she said "I'm looking right now, however some of those dresses over there look mighty nice."

A small smile touched the shopkeeper's lips and her tone changed from annoyance to happiness. "Why, I'm glad you like them. I make them myself, with my mother sometimes, they're made of silk from Ellesmera, and they're some of the finest in the land! Have you felt them? They're so very soft!"

The woman with the flaming hair was annoyed, but she smiled happily and said "Why no, I haven't! All though, I would like too, they look so very nice, it must have taken a lot of skill to make them!"

The woman looked greatly pleased with herself, and the flaming haired woman guessed that her ego was large.

"Please, come over here with me!" said the woman as she rushed over to the rack of dresses.

The flaming haired woman was very annoyed now, but she concealed it and simply smiled and trotted after the woman. The old woman began to rapidly explain everything about every dress, and the flaming haired woman's mind soon wandered. She needed to get that necklace, and she wasn't going to get it with this woman keeping her there, explaining about silk. She needed to think about a distraction, before the woman asked which dress she wanted to buy. She didn't have any money, which is why she had to steal the necklace.

The woman rambled on, talking about threading silk and what not, and the woman with the flaming red hair just smiled and nodded, not paying attention at all. She was too focused on getting the necklace, and leaving unnoticed. If she was lucky, the shopkeeper wouldn't even find out that the replica necklace was fake and that she would just sell it off, never finding out that it was indeed a fake.

And the woman rambled on, not even noticing the woman with flaming hair constantly glancing back at the necklace, as if losing sight of it would cause it to disappear. She needed that necklace and the old shopkeeper was getting in her way, she needed to distract her, and fast, before she ran out of things to ramble about and began to pick out a dress for the woman with flaming red hair. Once the shopkeeper realized she had no money, the woman with flaming red hair would have to bolt out of there, and hope that the shopkeeper wouldn't be suspicious enough to report her to the royal guard. Then she would have to narrowly escape the city of Illiria, get far away from there, and hope that where ever she settled next didn't have wanted posters.

As she thought about this, she didn't notice the shopkeeper wrapping up her story, and she almost jumped when the shopkeeper said "Well, which one would you like to buy dear?"

The flaming haired woman, who had not been paying attention, asked "I'm sorry what?"

"Which dress dearie? Which one would you like to buy?" asked the shopkeeper cheerily.

The flaming haired woman looked at the dresses, walked over, and pretended to be looking them over. She made side comments like: that one has a nice color or; this one has a nice feel to it; but she really wasn't paying much attention to it. She was rapidly trying to figure out what she would do.

After a few minutes the shopkeeper must have gotten a little impatient because she walked over to stand next to the rack and began to point out certain dresses to the flaming haired woman.

"This one matches your eyes." Said the woman as she pointed to a sapphire blue dress, with little gems imbedded on the neck line.

"Oh, it does!" said the flame haired woman "I best make sure it's the one though, I don't want to use up all of father's allowance and find out it doesn't fit!"

"I suppose." Said the shopkeeper who was obviously annoyed by how much time the woman was taking.

As she looked at the others a plan began to form in her head, and she waited for just the right second to begin. She needed to time it just right and she had to make sure she would head for the necklace as soon as the plan began.

Then she found it, a soft silk dress, softer than wool.

"My, this silk is very soft!" said the woman. "Where do you get it?"

The shopkeeper, who suddenly looked intrigued, said "Why, the elves made it from magic in one of their cities, and I buy it from them when they come to the markets. It's very costly, but it just makes the most beautiful dresses!"

"Yes it does!" said the woman "Do you keep it here in the shop?"

"Why yes," said the shopkeeper. "I make all of the clothing items here, right upstairs. That's where I keep the silk."

"Why, I would sure like to see some of that silk, maybe I could buy some when the elves come to the market next," said the red haired woman.

"I can bring some down if you'd like," offered the shopkeeper.

The flaming haired woman out on a fake smile and said "That would be wonderful!"

The shopkeeper smiled and said "Very well then, I'll be down in a few minutes!"

The flaming haired woman smiled and nodded and waited for the old shopkeeper to completely disappear up the stairs. Then she wiped the fake smile off of her face and went over to the necklace. She knew her time was limited, so she worked fast. She removed the replica from her cloak and placed it on the shelf, and then she took the real necklace and put it in her pocket. Then she noticed something bad about the replica, it didn't have the price tag!

Panicked, she took out the real necklace and ripped off the tag, and placed it on the replica so that it looked as if it was on it. She turned around just in time to hear the shopkeeper coming down the stairs, and she quickly moved a few paces away from the shelf.

She smiled as the shopkeeper appeared, holding a handful of soft silk. The old shopkeeper smiled back, looking pleased.

"Here's the silk I buy, it's not dyed or sewn yet, and it's very soft. I hear the elves imbed magic into it to make it so very soft." said the woman as she handed the silk to her.

The flame haired woman felt the silk and gave a fake awe. The shopkeeper looked pleased, as if she had made the silk herself and she was pleased of how much the flame haired woman liked it.

"Well then, which dress would you like dear?" asked the shopkeeper.

This caught the woman off guard, but she quickly recovered and said "Well, I just like so many of them I can't decide! I'd like to come by later with more money and get a few!"

The shopkeeper smiled, and said "Well then, perhaps you'd like some jewelry to go with it dear?"

The woman panicked inside. The shopkeeper was obviously going to try and sell her the necklace.

"Oh no," said the woman "I have so much jewelry, I don't need anymore."

"Oh nonsense!" said the shopkeeper "There is no such thing as a woman with too much jewelry! Come, have a look at this fine piece,"

The woman with flaming hair swallowed the lump of worry in her throat and reluctantly nodded. The shopkeeper smiled and walked over to the shelf, and the woman followed.

The shopkeeper looked at the necklace and said "What a beautiful piece, don't you agree?"

The woman nodded, and the shopkeeper began to look at the necklace again. Then she picked it up, and the tag fell off right away. The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow, and then she looked as if she had seen a ghost.

"This isn't the necklace, the inscription, it's gone!" said the shopkeeper, then she snapped her attention to the woman and said "You, you stole it!"

The woman shook her head and said "No, I didn't!"

"Yes you did!" snapped the shopkeeper, who was now frowning "I inspected that necklace this morning! It was you!"

"It was another customer!" exclaimed the woman.

"You're the only customer today!" yelled the shopkeeper "It had to have been you! Hand it over this minute!"

Panicked, the woman rushed out of the door, only to run into a pair of guards. She rushed past them, and seconds later she could hear the screams of the shopkeeper, and the clacking of the guard's metal boots not far behind her.


End file.
